The Reel World

"Sometimes I wish upon a star..."

Sometimes the brightest stars shine for the shortest times. That could certainly be said for Judy Garland. 2019 marks the 80th anniversary of the release of The Wizard Of Oz. There have been plenty of celebrations, but it's fitting that we also use this milestone as a chance to do some tribute to Judy Garland, who as a young girl brought the central character of Dorothy to life for generations of movie fans. It's an entirely appropriate time to offer some empathy to her, and that's exactly why Judy couldn't have come at a better time. It's based on the stage play End Of The Rainbow by Peter Quilter. The film offers us a rather intimate look at a time in the life of the actress just a year before she died from a drug overdose.

”AQUARELA takes audiences on a deeply cinematic journey through the transformative beauty and raw power of water. Captured at a rare 96 frames-per-second, the film is a visceral wake-up call that humans are no match for the sheer force and capricious will of Earth’s most precious element. From the precarious frozen waters of Russia’s Lake Baikal to Miami in the throes of Hurricane Irma to Venezuela’s mighty Angel Falls, water is AQUARELA’s main character, with director Victor Kossakovsky capturing her many personalities in startling cinematic clarity. The film will be shown in theaters at 48 frames-per-second, double the typical 24 frames-per-second, as projectors with the ability to project at 96-frames-per-second are extremely rare today, but when the time comes that the capacity is there, AQUARELA will be one of the first films to be shown at that speed.”

When you turn on the faucet and out comes water, do you really know where it all comes from and how much of it flows on the Earth? Enter the documentary Aquarela, with its lavish cinematography of water in all forms everywhere. The movie was made by Victor Kossakovsky, in which he says that his movie “takes audiences on a deeply cinematic journey through the transformative beauty of the raw power of water.” The film is not a political statement for a cause or even a warning of any kind.

You know a movie’s bad when Brad Pitt isn’t enough to save it. However, where Ad Astra falls down is in execution of story rather than a failure on the part of Mr. Pitt. The premise was interesting: a son follows in the footsteps of his hero astronaut father to learn that his father, who was previously believed to be dead, may be responsible for catastrophic events plaguing the Earth. There is depth to the story, and the idea of human beings colonizing other planets was shown in a truly interesting and realistic manner, but instead of this being the forefront of the film, the story focuses primarily on a emotional journey that never pans out. The film also features a cast of superstars whose performances were little more than cameos. A waste of talent if you ask me. I mean, why put together a cast that includes Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler, and Ruth Negga, just to have their contributions be the length of a commercial. Yes, I know that was an exaggeration, but it just seems wasteful.

Ad Astra follows Major Roy McBride as he plummets back to Earth from an apparent space ladder (interesting idea; wish they would have spent more time explaining it), when a power surge of unknown origin destroys portions of the spacecraft. Upon landing safely, McBride is informed that the source of the surges have been traced back to the Lima Project, a 30-year-old highly classified mission tasked with looking for intelligent life; this mission has significance to McBride because the mission was led by his father, Space Command legend Clifford McBride, who was thought to be dead up until this point. In that moment, McBride learns that not only is his father alive, but he is believed to be responsible for a event that resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. McBride is tasked with the mission of travelling across an unforgiving solar system in hopes of making contact with his father, as well as discovering the truth of his father’s wayward mission thirty years earlier.

"This is a story about control. My control. Control over what I say. Control about what I do."

Hustlers tells the "true" story of a team of strippers who found a way to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients and is based on a New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler. It promises a pretty good time. I mean, think about it. Wall Street is the stuff of mustache-twirling villains these days. Brokers might have dropped beneath ambulance-chasing lawyers and used car salesmen as the people we love to hate. Throw in some strippers and a clever con that happens to target these modern bad guys, and it sounds like the kind of romp that has something in it for everybody. Well ... maybe not the Wall Street guys who go to the movies, you might say. Did I mention it's got strippers? At first blush the film reminds me a little too much of Paul Verhoeven's infamous Showgirls. The problem is that the shlock value of that film has allowed it to find its place in film history, and so it has survived in all its badness. Will the same be true of Hustlers? Or will it quickly vanish into a sea of obscurity before another couple of years are over? I have to say that I suspect it's the latter. By this time next year, you'll be asking a friend what the name of that stripper film with Jennifer Lopez was last year? Let me know if anyone remembers, won't you?

Whistleblowing is a difficult decision. You are part of an organization, and you believe in that organization. Speaking out against that organization (yes, I know I’m overusing the word) at times can seem like ratting out family. Not to mention the downside. We all say that there will not be reprisal for whistleblowing, but more often than not, there is. However, that doesn’t mean that if you see wrongdoing that you should sit idly by and do nothing. Most believe that inaction is as bad as committing the act yourself. But when the organization you are speaking out against is the United States government, that is another animal entirely. Official Secrets portrays the real-life actions of Katherine Gun, a translator who back in 2003 leaked classified information exposing a conspiracy to facilitate the war against Iraq. Keira Knightly portrays our whistleblower with an all-star cast that includes Matthew Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans, and Ralph Fiennes.

A key factor with this biographical adaptation is historical accuracy. There are always some aspect that are sensationalized to make the story more interesting and engaging. I did some research, and as near as I can tell this portrayal is pretty accurate of the events that transpired; even the names are accurate. Katherine Gun worked worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence agency. During her employment, she received an email from a high-ranking U.S. intelligence official requesting aid in a secret and illegal operation to bug the United Nations offices of six nations: Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, and Pakistan. The purpose of the clandestine operation was to gain leverage over these countries to force their support to prompt the United Nations Security Council to approve the invasion of Iraq.

“This meeting of the Losers’ Club has officially begun.”

I don’t think I’d be exaggerating by saying It Chapter 2 might be the most highly anticipated horror film in quite some time. Two years ago when the first It hit the cinemas, sure, I expected it to be a hit, but the film went on to be a pop culture sensation.  Pennywise was already well known because of the books by Stephen King but also because of the loyal fan base of the 90’s mini-series.  Debates were heated about which Pennywise was better and more terrifying, while other debates went on about which adaptation was better.  I always felt it was unfair to compare this new version to the mini-series simply because we only had half a film, and now finally this weekend we have the conclusion to the story about our favorite Losers’ Club, only instead of teenagers they are all grown up.  Now that the wait is over, how does this film stack up alongside the first half and the mini-series? Well, I’ll say it’s better than the mini-series but doesn’t quite have the magic of the 2017 film.

Making the film Don’t Let Go a bit of a fantasy works for the target audience.  It reminds me of a few other films that get involved with solving a crime or saving a life by using a time warp.  In this film, however, the excitement mounts, and there’s enough of a twist to make it all come to a thrilling finale. The film opens with the introduction of Ashley Radcliff (Storm Reid), a young teen who has not been picked up by her dad from school. Not connecting on the phone with Garret (Brian Tyree Henry), she calls her Uncle Jack (David Oyelowo), a police detective, to pick her up.  It turns out to be an opportunity for the two to spend some quality time together.  Days later Jack gets a call from his niece, Ashley, that’s very disturbing. Going to her home, he finds dead bodies in the house, one of them his niece.

After the funeral, Jack and his partner, Bobby (Mykelti Williamson) investigate the crime with very few results.  Then a strange thing happens, Jack gets a call on his cell phone from Ashley. With four days to save her life, he tries to find a way to get evidence on her killers that could possibly save the girl.  So begins a mystery that leads to a twisted tale of crime, drugs, and a possible rewind of time.

Sometimes the best stories are those that take us on either a wonderful emotional journey or an actual quest of discovery. It's a rare film that offers both. At its heart, The Peanut Butter Falcon truly can't decide which of these paths it's really following. And that turns out to be one of its strongest elements. Part feel-good buddy film, part road picture, Peanut Butter Falcon is all heart. It's no surprise that the very creation of the movie took a rather unusual route to the big screen. Writer/Directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz did begin in the traditional way to develop their story. It was a genesis of inspiration that kindled the spark that would become a film. The film's star is an endearing young man named Zack Gottsagen. He was born with Down Syndrome and has long had a dream of becoming an actor. That's not an easy dream for anyone to fulfill, but Zack was determined, and fate brought him together with the filmmaking duo. His passion touched them to the point of wanting to make Zack's dream come true. And that's where this movie comes from. It was written around the unlikely star from the beginning and might have lingered as a mere passion project for all concerned, but it appears Zack's drive is infectious both on and off the screen. I get a sense of the real-life determination of the people behind this film, and it's just as unstoppable as that of the fictional characters they inspired. Real life and fiction are blurred here, and the end result had me believing I was just as much watching a true quest as I was enjoying a film. The Peanut Butter Falcon is an unpolished gem, and thank God for that.

Zak (Gottsagen) lives in a retirement community even though he's actually a very young man. He has Down Syndrome, and at some point in his young life has become a ward of the state. The state doesn't really know what to do with him, so he's fallen through the cracks and living in a situation that frustrates the young man. He's constantly trying to escape and usually foiled by the well-meaning nurse, Eleanor (Johnson). You can't keep a good man down, and with the help of his understanding roommate, Carl (Dern) he finally breaks free of his prison. Where will he go? He's been watching old VHS tapes of a wrestler named The Salt Water Redneck (Church) who promotes his school for wrestlers with promises of learning an impossible and likely mythic move. The tapes have filled Zak's mind with a dream to meet his idol, learn the moves, and perhaps become a member of the immortal wrestling community.

Anyone married understands that in-laws are not the easiest thing in the world to deal with. The next time you are struggling with your in-laws, I invite you to ponder this question: Have they ever tried to sacrifice you to the devil? If they have, I recommend divorce immediately, and if they haven’t, that puts you one step ahead of new bride Grace Le Domas (Samara Weaving, The Babysitter) That is the predicament that Samara Weaving’s character finds herself in. Here she thought she was marrying into one of the predominant families in the world; little did she know that wealth comes at a cost, and she would be that cost. Ready or Not is an entertaining tale of a woman’s attempt to escape her family, on her wedding night no less, as they use old-fashioned weaponry to hunt her and eventually sacrifice her. Think of it as a parody of The Most Dangerous Game in the format of an old-style horror film.

We meet Grace on what should be the happiest day of her life. She is about to marry the love of her life, Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien, City On A Hill), who also happens to be part of a vast and profitable gaming empire (however, they prefer you refer to it as a dominion). However, before she can sail off into the sunset, she must win over his family, which consists of a brother who keeps hitting on her, a father who suspects her of being a gold digger, and an aunt who is just downright creepy. All normal problems to have, right? That is until you reach her most critical problem; when a new member joins the family, that member is obligated to draw a card that is transcribed with a game that the person is compelled to play. Not too farfetched that a gaming dominion family would have a special thing for games. That is until it is revealed that the game she drew was “Hide and Seek”, which has significance to the family.

When a film comes along directed by Richard Linklater, I’m always going to have a little interest in what he’s up to.  He’s one of those directors I’ve followed from the 90’s that every few years he cranks out a film that I can’t help but enjoy.  Dazed and Confused, his Before Sunrise series, Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some!!, School of Rock, and several other of his films are proof enough that he has a solid filmography, but he’s never quite been  the guy to make a splash at the box office. Because of his track record, I’m a bit surprised to see that his new film Where’d You Go, Bernadette managed to squeeze into the tail end of the summer when the trailers would have me thinking this could be an awards-caliber film.  Well, as it turns out, the film is a swing and a miss.  While I still enjoyed the film, it’s a bit frustrating, because this film seems like it’s so close to being something great, but it just manages to disappoint throughout.

Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) is a bit of a mess, to put it lightly.  She’s more than a little difficult to get along with, she heavily self-medicates, drinks, and seems to hate most people with the exception of her family.  From the start it’s a bit difficult to decide if Bernadette is simply a quirky individual or if she is genuinely just an unlikeable person.  The problem is the film doesn’t seem to know either, so with each awkward situation we see Bernadette get into, she just becomes a more frustrating and tiresome character.  We see she doesn’t get along with her neighbors, and her relationship with her husband, a brilliant computer animator Elgie Branch, played by Billy Crudup, is odd in its own way as well.  It’s hard to understand why they’d be on board for a last-minute trip to Antarctica.